Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-05-07

liquid flow. as thousands of sewer rats
, BON without eyes hungry, ferociOus and
deadly as snakes. tiocked from all directions
to attack this new intruder and feast roy.
: ally. In an instant was bitten in dozen
places, and hundreds of the grey, wei
devils flung themselves upon me. EIraged,
their smell alone was frightful."
The speaker paused and clapped his
hands over his eyes moment as though to
shut out some horrible sight. As for me,
was rigid. Then he went on:
Screaming with a pain more horrible
than hell may inhict, | tore the monsters
off by handfuls and struggled to my feet.
| stepped on hundreds with my heavy boots
as | did so. Dozens had fastened
their sharp teeth in my clothing, and as |
rose and wnrl' madly round and round,
they stood out from my body until / was a
living wheel of grey. struggling veImin.
Weapons of defense had none but a small
clasp-knife. 1: was useless. as my pockets
were filled with ocze. Madly and blindly
! fumbled around in quest of something
with which l could beat off my horde of
murderers. Wherever | felt, my hands met
a wrthing, slimy surfsce Of struggling rats.
What was this, Something dark brow n,
watsr-soaked and sticky, but presenting,
nevertheless, poor pretence of weapon
of defense. | seized il and began TO strike
al my assailants right and left | did ter
ribe execution with my newly found
weapon. and sent hundreds of the gray
devils back into the stream of
ooZe. But my fight against such numbers
was puny one. and felt that was soon
t. die q horrible death. the victim of un-
conquerable numbers. | began to feel the
| NiSnn in M hlpni from tho N-iF liant faafb
Of the hundreds OF rats that had bitten me-
Delrium lay hold Of my blood, and 1 began
| to feel a wild, demoniacal zest in my battle
! with that death that was approaching. With
redOubled fury l rained blows on the
squeaking horde about me, and fought I'M
til, in the dead. disgusting atmosphere of
the sewer, the sweat poured from me in
streams. Suddenly gray. fantastic light
began to dance down the sewer toward me
an underground will o the wisp. born of the
horrible gases in the place. As it hOvered
past me like a gray phantom. ghOstily
lighting up my battle ground to
new horrors. l paused for one costly
instant 10 gaze at the weapon in my hand.
1t was the water-soaked and haIf-gnawed
remains of human leg! In my delerium
l laughed aloud until, perhaps, my maniac
al mirth reached sleeping and besotted
Paris, overhead. looked at that dull,
brown human leg in my hands, and won
dered whether any part of my poor frame
would ever serve anybody as human
bludgeOn to fight for minute of choked.
asphyXlated life in the sewers of Paris.
Il thought that had tasted of horror to
its deepest dregs, but listen, just as was
about to give up and plunge forward. face
dow inward, to drown in the slow. central.
sluggish current of slime, and cheat the
rats of at least the pleasure of eating me
alive. wild. new noise rang-yes, rang in
that thick atmosphere-dOwn the sewer.
Instantly twenty rats stopped eating
Inc and dropped with as
many FLASHES back into the
slime. There was a turbulent plunging
and plashing. as of a heavy body in water,
and the sem-liquid current was churned as
though by coming sQuall. giving off terri
BILE stenches meanwhile as 1t was agitated.
Far up the sewer. surrounded By a cloud of
the ghastly light | have described, there
came plunging toward me-beliOwing,
shr!eking and gesticulating-a horror in a
new shape. Was it man? 1t must have
been, for it had the form of one. though it
ran on all fOurs. 1t came nearer! In the
blue. horrible light that surrounded II,
studied its every detail and now they are
buI II into my brain like copper into gold.
see il all again-the long beard, dripping
with filth and water: the lank, long body,
covered with a thick growth Of hair, gray
like rat; the erect bristleS about the
nose: the great claw-like hands dripping as
it rose TO an erect position; the whole body
coated with slime like tortoise in a swill-
tub; the wild, wild eyes, rolling horribly.
but. as l soon leaIned. sightless-robbed
of their power of vision like everything
else that lived in that horrible place, and
las; and most dread of all, the fang-like
teeth over hanging the lower lip. 1t was q
man, but a frightiul living curse upon
Gods nandiwork; reekiug human reptil-
ion traverSty on him who is but little low
er than the angels; an underground demon,
living in the sewer, of the sewer. on the
seweE-living with the rats and monsirous
worms of that awful hole; living on the
Otfal of Paris. Robbed of everything but
that most horrible of gifts
Was dreaming? Was this dellrium?
No; il could not be, for the next instant the
horrible thing arose erect and laughed
laughed Oh, God. that laugh. How it
will ring its note of horror through my life.
l could have endured ever, thing had
that poor, slimy reptile that most misera-
BILE of all Gods creatures below the beasts
of the field-that insane wanderer in the
sewers of Paris-nOt have laughed, 1t was
no dream. There he stOod!an pulled con-
vulsively at his matted dripping beard. in
which was festOoned the reeking woof of
the cess-cuIrent The blue light played